1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to the manufacture of envelopes and enclosures which are personalized, the envelopes and enclosures particularly being separate entities formed from the same web or sheet material and being continuously manufactured at high speed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
High speed web lithographic printing techniques have given rise over the past few decades to exponential increases in the use of direct mail advertising, this practice having been further expanded more recently to include "personalized" letters produced through utilization of computer-controlled printing equipment capable of addressing a letter and even providing personal information previously stored in computer memory. Such prior techniques have expanded the use of direct mail advertising and similar communication by allowing mass mailings to be performed at an extremely low cost relative to previous manual methods. The personalization of mail effectively increases the return to the advertizer or other user. However, the personalization provided to such a letter by this relatively new technology has diminished in impact due to the nature of the envelopes and similar articles onto which the personalized information is printed. Personalized mailings lose a substantial amount of personal value when the person receiving the mailing can easily recognize the mailing as a "form" or "mass" mail advertisement, such poorly-produced mailings being often not opened or read by the recipient even though useful and valuable information is contained in the mailing. The use of "computer print-out" papers wherein an envelope and "letter" are combined together without detachment and often without even removal of edge perforations remaining from printing from a roll further increases the resistance of a recipient to seriously consider such a mailing as personal mail deserving of close attention. Numerous attempts to improve upon the impersonal "personalized" letter have been made in the art such as is evidenced by U.S. Pat. No. 3,557,519 to Lyon, Jr., who describes an integral envelope-letter article intended to provide the effect of a personal letter while retaining the ability to produce such letters in sufficient quantities to be economical within the economic framework of direct mail advertising. As a further example, Jones, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,596, provides a method for producing a mailing piece formed of an envelope and an insert. However, the Jones mailing piece is formed of two separate sheets of material blanked from different webs at different locations and mated in an assembly operation, such methodology being logistically difficult and of a speed which is becoming unacceptable in the industry due to cost considerations. Jones particularly provides two changes of direction in the manufacture of the mailing piece so disclosed, a first change of direction occurring on insertion of the separate "letter" portion of the mailing piece into an unglued blank with a second change of direction occurring to facilitate application of adhesive to the envelope blank which is followed by folding and sealing of the mailing piece. Changes of direction in such a processing operation inherently increase the time required for manufacture of a mailing piece. Volkert et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,895, provide a further example of the manufacture of mass mailing pieces which can be computer-personalized. Volkert et al provide an envelope containing a personalized enclosure which is unattached to the personalized envelope, the envelope and enclosure being formed from the same web of sheet material which has been preprinted. Volkert et al do not provide a mechanism within the mailing piece itself during formation which ensures that the envelope and enclosure are maintained in association with each other during folding and severing operations necessary to cause the envelope and enclosure to become separate entities.
Accordingly, it has become highly desirable to produce personalized mailing pieces consisting of a personalized envelope and a separate personalized enclosure which are separate entities but which are formed from the same preprinted web of sheet material and which particularly gives the effect of an important, personalized letter or other communication such as a telegram or the like. Further, it is particularly necessary in the production of such mailing pieces that the mailing pieces be produced at a high rate of speed in order that economies can be effected without diminution of the personalized quality of the mailing. The present invention addresses these needs by formation of a personalized mailing piece formed of a separate envelope and enclosure and which can be produced in large quantities and at extremely rapid rates of production, thereby allowing the cost of a high personal impact mailing to be produced at a relatively low cost.